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I'm retired LE and pretty much every criminal I know of started out on marijuana before moving on to harder drugs. So yes, I consider it a gateway drug.
I think there’s more to it than that though. Pot is probably the easiest to get. If someone is thinking of doing drugs, it’s the first thing they will think of because Society has lumped it in with the more dangerous stuff. So, pot first.
If it didn’t exist, people would start with the more addictive stuff whenever and wherever they could get their hands on it. Not able to have pot wouldn’t prevent that from happening.
If pot were 100% a gateway drug then so many more people who use it would instead go on to use the more dangerous substances but that’s not the case. The majority indulge in pot and only pot. Those are the people LE doesn’t see.
Its not about R&D on opioids, before the crackdown, doctors everywhere were writing opioid scripts...that means LOTS were being sold.(lots of $$$ coming in)
However after the crackdown, its rare to find doctors that will give out opioids (MUCH less $$ coming in).
I dont see why its so hard for some to understand this, do you think the alcohol companies liked it when prohibition was enacted...of course not, it meant they were going to loose customers and money, due to a Govt law...same exact thing happened to the pharma companies...new laws = drastic decrease in sales on their most popular drugs. (thats pretty simple to understand imo)
I understand that perfectly.
What I don't understand is why someone would underestimate the power of the Big Pharma lobbyist's millions of dollars and stacks of blank checks. They have known for years what they stand to lose when marijuana becomes legal. It is very, very valuable to them to entice lawmakers to move legalization along as slowly as politically possible, to the point of the government's War on Opioids being a lesser concern to them than marijuana legalization.
I'm sorry you don't see the bigger picture, the one that includes the ongoing year-to-year hit they are going to take once marijuana becomes legal. In the long run it will make the hit they took from the War on Opioids look like a slap on the wrist. That's because legal marijuana will cut into not only their opioid pill business, but also many of the pills they currently sell for depression, anxiety, nausea, glaucoma, epileptic seizures, MS, etc.
The only thing they can do about it is try to maximize profits while they still can, by gouging us with as many price increases as they can get away with, on all drugs across the board.
I don't think making pot legal makes more people start using it. I think that people who smoke pot legally, were already smoking it illegally. It just provides a better source for them that's more consistent or reliable as far as having any other additives.
But, in my experience, people know what they like, and one drug isn't likely to cause them to start using a different kind of drug.
For instance, for me, I just don't like any drugs, but I like my evening cocktail. Alcohol is my drug of choice. It's just a feeling I prefer with the least amount of side-effects for me. I deal with a lot of pain, and I just don't like any other options.
And if you've ever known someone who likes uppers, they aren't likely to have started taking uppers because they used a "depressant" like pot or alcohol. They were just someone looking for the feeling they wanted. They just kept shopping different substances until they found what they were looking for.
So, I just really don't think one drug is going to get someone to take a different kind of drug. Any drug they started out taking was just them shopping for the feeling they were searching for. They tried this, they tried that, until they found the one that gave them what they needed.
It's more about people needing a feeling or some kind of relief, than it is about evil drugs searching for users. It's the opposite. The users are looking for what different drugs can give them.
I wish there was this much energy given to WHY people need drugs. Why do we ignore that people have pain issues that require relief? Or anxiety issues, etc. And I hate the term self-medicating, as if it's a bad thing. Heck, people self-medicate all of the time for lots of different reasons. They take aspirin or hot lemonade with honey and brandy for headaches or sore throats, on and on.
So, let's look at why people need drugs? And stop vilifying them for having needs that require relief. And start giving them decent options without a stigma attached.
Shoot, legalize them all. As I recall, there was only a need for drug regulation, way back when, because people were mislabeling snake oil, so people weren't able to know what was inside a bottle - the ingredients. So, how about we make sure the contents are what the label says, and let people go at it.
And then provide them with decent resources as far as health care providers and decent counseling services, etc.
Anyway, the key is to find out why people need drugs. Figure out what it is they need, and find a way to give it to them - as in relief from suffering, which is what it usually is all about.
I'd say it's more likely they started out on alcohol.
It's my experience that criminals go one of two ways. The drug track, where marijuana is the gateway, or the alcohol track. While some druggies do drink and alcoholics sometimes use drugs, the abused substance of choice is normally one or the other.
No. It’s not a gate way drug. I’ve been using for a good 20 years now and never one have I wanted or felt the desire to try anything stronger. I have seen some use it and end up wanting something more mostly because they are looking for a way to numb whatever they are feeling.
Some people don't go any further than marijuana, but most move on to harder drugs.
Its a mixed bag really. Criminals dont like it, coke is it! People with big psychological problems dont like it, so they turn to heroin. And some people have a genetic disposition to be a junkie, so they find their middle ground. Alcoholics just like to get drunk, knock out , and forget their problems. Now other may use drugs to mask a problem in their lives.
So, is Marijuana a gateway drugs? I do not think their is enough research to prove that. What I do know is that Marijuana is not the kind of drug people think it is. You can drive, work and still function. You cant say that for any other street drug.
Perhaps those people that are super negative about the MJ may recall the first and only time they tried it, and remember the dramatic high they got from it. ringing ears , weird thoughts, dreamy state. MJ is not a hallucinating drug, at least that is what has been shared with me by old school stoners.
It does make you lazy, and not wanting to do anything. Maybe that has alot to do the crime rate dropping in some areas of the country. Crack and rampant cocaine use did cause alot of crime, as well as heroin use. Junkies have to find a way to get high, and if they are deep in it, they are probably jobless or have little income.
So , is Booze a gateway drug? Coke? heroin? Meth? I dont think so. those users usually stick to what they like. Although I have heard many stories of reformed Heroin addict going backwards, and using MJ because it keeps them more stability and able to function. Bottom line, who are you associating with that make you think "hard drugs" are cool?
Some people don't go any further than marijuana, but most move on to harder drugs.
Not most, as in over 50%. Cannabis kills nobody, according to everyone who has seriously studied it. That includes elderly doctors who've studied it very seriously for half their lives. They put videos on You Tube so even people who have trouble reading can learn what these researchers at top universities around the world have learned. You can learn from patients as well. About 75 medical uses in smoked form and a few hundred uses when vaping the oil (inhaling it when heated to below the point of combustion for best results).
I've learned much about the evils of the war on cannabis users from retired LEOs. One NARC said while his co-workers were wasting time, chasing after kids with baggies, he was arresting drunk drivers and speeders.
Another comment was liking most of the arrested more than most co-workers. Hating that he had to act like the dealers friend and pretend to be a big buyer/dealer to imprison. He had to test the cannabis in front of the seller, to seem like a genuine big buyer/dealer. His reaction was we're arresting people for this?!
A Canadian constable reported she was retiring not by choice as she became very ill with MS, with intense facial pain. She said using up to an ounce a day made her pain bearable. I'm thinking some places she would've gone to prison.
6 out of 7 cannabis users have jobs, which generally means paying taxes, including funding to LEOs that might arrest them. Cannabis laws should not be based on 1930s science fiction, like a man on MJ grabbed an axe and chopped up his whole family into little pieces. Or makes people become professional killers.
The 20 years for possession of cannabis in the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 was to lock up peaceful war protestors. Why does the corpse of Richard Nixon dictate this? He was an angry drunkard who wanted to nuke the entire Soviet Union. Schedule 1 of cannabis is not based on health risks, for sure!
Some people don't go any further than marijuana, but most move on to harder drugs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jburress
And that would be due to the dealers who introduce them to harder drugs.
That is not true, because the poster you just agreed with is absolutely wrong. He never sees 99% of the marijuana users in this country, because they never cross paths with law enforcement. Instead, they are responsible, productive citizens. This LEO you responded to does not even know they exist.
Law enforcement officers, because of the riffraff types of individuals they have to deal with daily, are probably the least objective people on the planet when it comes to evaluating cannabis and its effects.
Typically, they seem to not be very good at math either.
25,000,000 people per month use marijuana. If "most move on to harder drugs" as the poster claims, then greater than 12,500,000 of them will move on. In just one month!
Another way to analyze it is to look at the sales figures in the legal states. Colorado is well over $4,000,000,000.00 in sales since 2012. That is only legal sales, only one state. If "most" move on to harder drugs, the bodies would be piling up on street corners because there would be no where to put them!
If you're an old guy like me, you'll remember all the huge drug busts, where tons, yes tons, were confiscated and destroyed at a time. The DEA admitted they were only getting a small portion of it. If "most" of those people from 45 years ago that smoked all that tonnage moved on to harder drugs, where are all the millions of bodies?
I hope I have made my point. Law enforcement Officers are the LAST group of people that we need to be taking advice from on this subject, yet many local governments turn to them first for recommendations for new laws.
What a funny world we live in.
Last edited by Raddo; 06-04-2018 at 08:35 AM..
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